Running Series Offering a Beer Chaser Coming to St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD -- A running series that focuses on fun -- and beer -- is making a stop in St. Cloud this spring. The "Minnesota Brewery Running Series" has a total of 38 5K-ish runs scheduled this year all starting and ending at local breweries.

Operations Manager Jack Lunt says they cap each run at about 200 participants, and many of them sign-up for several of the runs in the series.

I bet we have 60 to 100 runners that come to about 25 percent or more of the events. And then we have 20 that come to nearly every event. There's been a community that has grown.

Lunt says every runner -- age 21 and older -- is rewarded with a free beer when they're done. He says their runs are fun and family-friendly.

I would say the average is in the 30 to 40-minute range. We get families that show up and push their kid in a stroller. We have an age range from kids to grandparents.

This year the 7th stop in their tour of 38 breweries is at Beaver Island Brewing Company in downtown St. Cloud. It will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 12th.

The Brewery Running Series will also be at Lupulin Brewing in Big Lake on September 22nd. A portion of the proceeds from the entry fee goes to non-profits.

Their goal is to surpass $100,000 in donations by the end of this year. Their three core recipients are "Brewing for a Better Forest", "People for Parks", and "Red Shoe Society". They also pick a local non-profit in each community they stop in.

The Brewery Running Series started here in Minnesota but has quickly grown to eight states.